Oil dehydrator and cleanser



' Aug. 24 1926. 1,597,337

L. T. ARNOLD OIL DEHYDRATOR AND CLEANSER Filed May 5, i925 INVENTOR Luther T. ArnoLd ATTO R N EY Patented Aug. 24, 1926.

UNITED STATES LUTHER T. ARNOLD, OF REWARD, CALIFORNIA.

OIL IDEHYDBATOR AND CLEANSEB.

Application filed. May 5, 1925. Serial No. 28,275.

This invention relates to improvements in oil dehydrating and cleansing devices.

Oil as pumpedfrom wells contains certain impurities. These impurities consist mainly of water and alkali, and possibly salts, together with a certain amount of oil sand and other solid matter. The alkali coming in contact with the oil forms a soapy substance which holds together tenaciousl and is difii'cult to break out or dissolve. 0 do this requires not much less than 260 F. .temperature. Dehydrators are therefore provided in which the oil is heated to this necessary degree, to chemically separate the oil from the alkali etc. In all such devices the principle of operation is the same. That is, the oil and impurities therein are raised in common to the'above stated temperatures in the dehydrator and then, drawn otf into a separator tank and allowed to cool somewhat. The oil and impurities then remain chemically disassociated and-may be easily and separately removed from the tank.

My improved structure deals especially with the supplying of the heat to the dehydrator. Steam is usually employed as the heating me ium, and in all dehydrators now built, as-far as I am aware, the steam is generated i a plant separate from the dehydrator. guch an arrangement necessarily means a lossof steam pressure between the boiler and the dehydrator and necessitates carrying a higher pressure in the boiler than is used in the dehydrator in order to obtain a predetermined pressure in the latter.

' With the type of boiler commonly used in the oil fields, which are not usually constructed to withstand over 100 lbs. pressure, it is hard to reach and maintain a pressure sufiicient to supply the necessary heat to the dehydrator which is some distance from the boiler, and then only by consuming a large' amount of fuel. 7

Furthermore the problem of keeping wa ter in the boiler frequently causes considerable trouble, especially since plants of this character are frequently located in districts in which water is at a premium.

The principal object of my invention therefore is to construct a dehydrator for the purpose in such a manner that the steam generating plant and the dehydrator proper are arranged as a unitary structure, in which the oil carrying members are located direct- 1y within the steam chamber of the boiler.

This eliminates the expense of installation and upkeep of a separate boiler, and there is no waste of heat and water or loss of steam pressure through friction or otherwise. As a result my dehydrator is extremely efficient in operation, as well as being economical in the use of water and fuel and generating the steam, since one filling of water in the boiler will last the plant indefinitely if ordinary care is taken to keep the fire from generating such a head of steam as will cause the same to blow ofi through the safety valve.

A further object of my invention is to provide for the feeding of the oil to the dehydrator in such a manner that the oil is initially heated before actually entering the dehydrator structure.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views:

Fig. l is a sectional elevation of my improved apparatus.

F1 2 1s a cross section on the line 2-2 of Fig: 1 with the outer enclosure omitted.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the numeral 1 denotes an enclosed drum or shell of suitable dimensions and preferably cylindrical, the major area of which forms a steam boiler.

This shell is adapted to'be mounted in an .enclosure 2 of brick or the like. For the majority of its height this enclosure closely surrounds the shell, but from a point some distance above the lower end of the shell to a point below the same said enclosure is widened out to form a fire-box 3 under the boiler in which fire of a suitable character may be maintained. An oil burner (not shown) is usually used for this purpose. A smoke stack 4 leads outwardly of the enclosure from the upper end of the fire box. Mounted in the shell some distance from the bottom thereof is a separated receptacle or oil chamber 5, which is spaced from the shell on one side thereof as at6 to provide communication from the lower to the upper end of the shell past said chamber.

Extending completely across the shell some distance from the topt-hereof is a wall or partition 7 forming'a separate chamber 8 in the shell between the partition and the top of said shell. ber is therefore that portion 9 of the shell which extends bet-ween the partition 7 and the lower end of said. shell.

Communication between the chambers 5 and 8 is had by means of a plurality of vertical flues or tubes 10 extending therebetween.

A water inlet and outlet pipe 11 leads to the lower end of the boiler with a safety valve 12 at the top thereof or just below the partition 7 An oil inlet pipe 13 leads to the chamber 5 near the top thereof through the smoke stack 4 (thereby initially heating the oil) and an outlet pipe 14 leads from the top of the chamber 8.

Water is preferably maintained in the boiler somewhere about the level of the chamber 5 and a suitable gage glass 15 is attached to the boiler at about this level.

A drain pipe 16 leads from the chamber 5 at the bottom thereof to enable any oil sand, and other sediment to be removed from said chamber when necessary.

In operation, with a suitable fire burning in the fire box, steam may be maintained in the boiler thereabove at any desired pressure, which is limited only by the strength of the shell. The oil is constantly being pumped from the pipe 13 into the chamber 5, through fines 10, into chamber 8, and out through pipe 14. Since the steam is in direct contact with the chamber 5, fiues l0 and the bottom of the chamber 8, the oil as it flows upwardly is directly subjected to the heat of the steam, so that the impurities are broken away from the oil itself and disassociated therefrom.

This is the well known principle of operation of dehydrators of this character and I do not change this operation in the least. It will be seen however that with my apparatus whatever steam pressure is generated will be directly available for thus heating the oil without any loss of pressure or waste. Since the steam cannot and need not escape from the boiler except through the safety valve, which of course is set to blow off if the steam exceeds a predetermined pressure, it will be seen that absolutely no steam or Water from which it is generated need ever be wasted. "Plus is because when the steam,

condenses it merely drops back into the main Theboiler and steam chain supply at the bottom of the boiler instead of being dissipated into the atmosphere or necessitating the use of a condensing plant as must nowbe done.

Owing to the fact, as above stated, that the steam is generated directly about the flues and all its heat value utilized, the oil may be forced through the dehydrator much quicker than is ordinarily possible and still adequately heated. Therefore while the capacity of the ordinary dehydrator is about 800 barrels per twenty-four hour day, one of my dehydrators of similar dimensions will handle 2000 barrels or over in the same time.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to se cure by Letters Patent is:

1. An oil dehydrator comprising a vertically disposed boiler, an enclosure therebelow to form a fire box, a smoke stack from the fire box, an oil chamber in the boiler spaced from the lower end and from one side thereof, oil passage means leading upwardly in the boiler from said chamber, an outlet from said passage means, and an oil intake pipe leading to the oil chamber through the smoke stack, whereby the oil will be subjected to heat prior to entering the chamber.

2. An oil dehydrator comprising a vertically disposed boiler, a firebox tl'iereunder, an intake oil chamber in the boiler spaced from the lower end and from one side thereof to allow communication from the boiler below the chamber to the area thereahoi'e, passage means projecting upwardly from the chamber, a chamber with which the upper ends of said passage means connect and forming an enclosure with the sides of the lgoiler, and an outlet from said upper cham- In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

LUTHER 'l. ARNOLD. 

